University Chamber Music season opens with the Chamber Orchestra of Southwest Virginia

September 5, 2006

The 2006-07 University Chamber Music series opens with a weekend of performances by the Chamber Orchestra of Southwest Virginia on Saturday, Sept. 9 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Sept. 10 at 3 p.m. in the Squires Recital Salon.

Featured works for the concert include Shostakovich’s Concerto No. 1 for Piano and Trumpet, Mozart’s Linz Symphony and Heinichen’s Concerto in F. James Glazebrook will conduct, and Tracy Cowden is the featured pianist.

Founded in the fall of 1992, the Chamber Orchestra of Southwest Virginia is a 28-member ensemble comprised of Virginia Tech music department faculty and additional professional musicians from Cleveland, Columbus, New York City, Boston, Miami and Virginia. They are committed to performing a varied repertory of music for small orchestra.

Cowden received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree and a Master of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music, and a Bachelor of Music degree from Western Michigan University. As a collaborative pianist, she has performed in recitals in the United States, Canada and Europe. In 2004, Cowden joined the Cavani Quartet for a performance of Schumann’s Piano Quintet at the Spring Chamber Music Festival in Delaware, Ohio. She returned to central Ohio in March 2005 for a performance of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the Central Ohio Symphony Orchestra. Cowden has presented lecture-recitals, workshops, and master classes on the art of collaborative piano in Michigan, Ohio, Virginia, Washington, and Québec. In 2004, she released a CD with Dr. Nancy Gamso of Ohio Wesleyan University entitled “With Blackwood and Silver,” which features modern duo repertoire for flute with piano and clarinet with piano.

Tickets are now on sale at the University Unions and Student Activities Ticket Office in Squires Student Center on the Virginia Tech campus. For tickets, call (540) 231-5615 or order online at the Ticket Office website. Group rates are available.

For more information on the University Chamber Music series and other upcoming events in music at Virginia Tech, please call (540) 231-5685 or visit the music department website.